Zoning Board of Appeals - Regular Meeting

AND ALLEN, IF YOU CAN READ THE CALL OF THE MEETING.

HOW ARE YOU DOING, SETH? NOTICES HEREBY GIVEN AT THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS WILL HOLD A REGULAR MEETING VIRTUALLY VIA ZOOM ON MONDAY, JUNE 1, 2022, AT 730 P.M. TO CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING. A, 45 DOUGLAS STREET, APPLICANT roski dasco owner 45 douglas street llc for 12 foot variance of the zoning regulation section 4.4 point b bulk requirements of the i2 restricted industrial zone uh rear yacht set lot setback for purpose of additional, for purpose additional, for proposed addition according to the plan submitted. Applications are reviewed and that's it.

Okay. All right. Thank you. So we have, All our regular members are here. Alan, Sean, Pansy, myself, and Shelby, correct? Shelby's the regular member. And Stephanie, you're the alternate? Is that correct? All right. Okay, so all the regular members are here and they'll be voting. I have a motion to approve the minutes of the March meeting.

So moved.

Second. Moved by Alan, seconded by Pansy.

Jackie, yes, I am an alternate.

Sorry, I was stuck on.

That's okay. Okay. All in favor of approving the minutes?

Aye.

Okay. All right. Um, so we have public hearing for 45 Douglas Street. If the applicant can see here, state his name and tell us about the application and why he needs the variance.

Yep, I'm just gonna share my screen. I have a quick PowerPoint to go along with it.

Yep, just name and address for the record.

Yeah, please. My name is Andrew Woodward. I'm a landscape architect I work for a firm in Glastonbury, Connecticut called Benish, and our client, the Bloomfield Tennis Club and Rostec Datsco, I'll be presenting on their behalf. He's also in the attendees as well. He can answer any questions as well if there is any directly towards the ownership of the parcel. All right. Can everybody see the screen?

Yep.

All right. So projects and property overview why we're here tonight. We're seeking variance for the rear setback of the property proposed addition for an additional tennis court into the main structure on 45 Douglas. would require a 60-foot minimum expansion off the back to fit another full-size court in there. And that is encroaching on the setback requirements, which is the 10% of the total lot depth. So on the screen now is highlighted in the yellow is the property in question. To the north is also Bloomfield Tennis Club's property with their outdoor clay courts, pickleball courts, and a pool. To the east, we have Douglas Street. To the west, we have the wooded land with a stream that's a very undevelopable area. And to the south, property that's also owned by 45 Douglas Street LLC, which is currently mostly wooded with a structure on it. The proposed addition for one regulation size court is going to enhance the functionality and long term viability of the of the business. The club has increased its year-round playing services for members, and this will just help with the winners and having the ability for the members to be able to play indoors when the outdoor courts are unusable and accessible. Here's a site plan that we submitted for the project. As you can see, the red line is where the 52.9 foot setback requirement would be. And we do have a wedge of the proposed structure at its largest section that is sticking over the rear setback line by 12 feet. At the Southern end of that, we are not encroaching on the rear setback, but we do have that wedge piece there. The addition's not gonna interfere with any of the side setbacks. It was just the rear setback that's in question. The property used to have a smaller structure back there that was not utilized. And after it had gotten hit by a falling tree, ownership decided to remove the structure and just leave the area as it has been for years, just a gravel area with the existing retaining wall in the back. for the hardship overview, the rear setback for I2 zone being the 10% of the depth, since this is a larger depth property, getting over 50 feet, it really, limits the amount of usable space in the back of the property there for an additional structure. Other commercial districts in the town are 20 feet minimum on those. The tennis courts obviously require those specific dimensions for playability reasons. And the current layout of the site, the building kind of going up to those 20 foot setbacks on each side with parking in the front. There's no other space on this parcel for the addition to go. And the setback as shown in there is just that small wedge piece. This is a old drawing from the addition back in 19, 82, uh, which shows the, the building that was torn down, uh, that, which was 19 plus or minus feet from the rear property line. Um, which was, you know, well, well into that, that 52.9 foot setback, uh, and that building had been there for, for a very long time. Just wanted to show that this had been, um, you know, was allowed in the past having that structure back there. Chris Wanner, The zoning area, we have the building here on the screen, it is all industrials zoned around here all the adjacent parcels to the West are all in the industrial to zone as well, and everything to the to the north and the south and the east. So the scope of the building addition, just looking to expand the indoor facilities, allow the members more indoor tennis court pickleball use, training use inside. The addition will match the existing structure, just sticking out another 60 feet off the back. As I mentioned previously, historically, structures were allowed in the back in that unimproved gravel parking area that's behind the building currently. There won't be any need for any more removal or grading or anything back there. Everything's already flat and has a gravel base back there. You know, just because of the unique constraints and the minimal impact on the neighborhood, you know, we thought this is a viable option for the back. And just some zoning language that I picked up in there. In the notes for the I-2 zone, the bulk requirements say 10% of the depth. However, it does note that no structure can be located within 20 feet of a property line. or within 50 feet of a boundary around any residential zones. But we're not, you know, we're not around any of those residential zones either. So, you know, with that, that was kind of a quick overview of the variants that we're looking for, the 12-foot encroachment. And I have the site plan up if anybody has any questions. Rostick's also here as well if anybody has any questions for him.

Any questions? I got a couple questions. So what's to the rear of the property?

The rear of the property is town-owned land. There's a few parcels of town-owned land that abut right against the back of the property line. And then there's a small stream that's down the slope. And then there's... more uh properties more parcels that are beyond that that are all wooded they look like there there may have been a a paper street uh put in there but nothing in that area has been developed so it goes from those parcels to um see if i can i'm not sure if this shows it so all these parcels here these ones here are all town owned and then there's a there's a stream the stream corridor here, and then there's just more parcels on the even further east than that. That's all woods.

How close are you to the stream?

Not close. Not that close. It's off the page here. 200 feet? Yeah, it's well over 200 feet.

Well over 200 feet. It's very far.

you talked to peter about this alex there were other meetings regarding like a other projects going on there i've talked i've talked to peter about this on a preliminary level but this actual variance and the purpose of this public hearing is just the 12 feet i'll i'll present my staff report just what it looks like and kind of my thoughts on yeah

I mean, there's nothing back there where where they're building where they want to build. There's that wall with the drop off. And then just open space there. Where's that? Point to it. Can you point to the place where you're where you want to build?

Can you see my mouse cursor? yes yeah yeah yeah so there's nothing down in that area back there yeah so so the building's only going to go 60 feet from the back of the existing building so it'll be attached to the the current structure and it goes 60 feet back so there's still another uh 45 paved right there where your mouse cursor is right that's all paved right there yeah this photo is from uh april of 2026. okay are you building on top of that pavement or are you gonna dig that out well this the the new structure would have it's a whole new footing foundation and um you know that'll be the next after we um get through this process moving forward with getting into the design with with you know the architects that they choose and moving along that way but yeah the TAB, Mark McIntyre, The whole back area is flat right now. TAB, Mark McIntyre, All the way retaining wall from the edge of the proposed building addition to the retaining wall is over 45 feet. TAB, Mark McIntyre, So there's still over 45 feet of gravel before that existing retaining wall.

TAB, Other questions.

TAB, Mark McIntyre, yeah I got another question.

TAB, I have.

uh alex uh there was a special permit granted in uh 2020. have you done any investigation and whether all those conditions were met yeah it's it's less about that so there's plans for that um but basically the the image that's on the screen is what that special permit was for um it's predominantly at the parcel referred to 35 um And it's essentially those courts.

The courts that he's proposing now.

No, no, the exterior court. So that special permit is just so that's the last basically active approval. I usually try to include that type of information just to give like a context of what the plot is. So that special permit is essentially for technically this whole kind of tennis complex, if you will. But the development being those exterior, those outdoor courts. but it's the basically the most recent special permit that's why that's there it's not it's not directly related to this project it's just the existing approval i'm just wondering what kind of applicant he was if he follows the rules or he bends the rules Yeah, I mean, so far, there's a much more intricate permitting history, too, in there. They even got a permit for this little outdoor seating area. You know, it's a pretty... In front? The one in front? Yeah, with the fire pit and all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't throw all of that in there. But, you know, overall, I didn't see any indication. I also visited the site, and I... A couple small updates nothing that's really crucial, but so that that's just a gravel parking lot I took a picture of it there's a retaining structure. You know, probably whatever amount of structural fill being retained by it that goes back there, I have a picture of where they're putting it. As well as just like a view is if you were facing that boundary but i'll i'll present that at the time of the staff report it's fairly brief I feel like the applicant covered. a lot of what I'm getting at. Just a couple points of clarification.

Does anybody else have any questions right now of the applicant or of the landscaper?

Can I ask one more?

I guess. That's your limit though.

Okay.

Go ahead.

So what's the hardship?

Was someone else about to speak? No, go ahead. So with the addition of the outdoor courts and expanding the facility with more courts, more membership, kind of growing the business in Bloomfield, The need for additional indoor facilities as well, since we do live in New England and the weather's not always there, we have two feet of snow on the ground. Having a place for the business to continue to operate and those members having a place to utilize through the months where the outdoor facilities are not accessible. And just really helping the business thrive in Bloomfield and continue to grow. It seems like it's a great facility well put together and they're just looking for additional space for membership to utilize during those colder months.

Mr. Woodward, can you put up the site plan again, the map?

This one?

Yeah, I would also wouldn't your hardship be the way that the building is placed on there because it's a wedge that that is. That's causing causing your problem there.

Correct. Yeah. The the shape the shape of the parcel also affects. the placement of the building and with the existing building being placed not perpendicular to the main road, we do wind up with that wedge on the backside with this attempt at expansion.

That's a better hardship.

Yeah. Any other questions or are you done?

I'm done. Thank you.

Anybody else? Pansy, did you have your hand up?

I just want to say I visited the property. I went and looked because I always like to see what I'm doing. And I think it's a perfect place to add the tennis court. A building was there. The building was taken down. So, I mean, I think it's a perfect place. I don't see any problems there. I think a variance should be given.

Okay. Thank you. Anybody else have any comments or any questions? Did you wanna give us your report, Alex?

Yeah, it's fairly brief. Let me just pull up the webpage. Just a couple things, more so just for the record, some points of clarification. Oh yeah, Andrew, if you don't mind stopping sharing yours.

I know with teams that whoever's presenting next usually can just steal it.

Yeah, maybe I. But yeah, so this page should look familiar to everyone. Does everyone see our kind of application landing page? So just a couple things. So I do apologize. This was always available online, but just due to the size and trying to do this in a hurry with limited administrative staff, I did want to include... original survey including the old older structure just to highlight one point of clarification which is just purely for the record most of it is town owned land but for whatever reason there is a small portion that i didn't do like a change of title or try and figure it out but the town has had a number of difficulties in acquiring certain properties uh oftentimes it's related to probate or whatever else sometimes people in this area just due to the nature of um the land most of the land not being developable in this particular area um sometimes they don't even necessarily know that they own it or it was in the family um so this is a non-conforming lot um also flood zone also wetlands um albeit the water course being further away uh that being another point of clarification there there most likely will be some amount of regulated activity just from the upland review area i'm not a wetlands agent um but peter will take a look at you know best management practices if there is anything that would qualify as regulated activity uh by the inland wetlands water courses commission you know that's not necessarily what we're here to talk about um but related to that uh as people have been mentioning they've been to the site i also went to the site So let me pull up staff report. This is the area in question. While there are features beyond this retaining wall that Peter's most likely going to take a look at, at whatever capacity he deems it needs to be taken a look at, the addition is basically going to go off of this wall and well within this gravel parking area. uh this is i basically just took a picture looking off of the retaining wall this is the undeveloped land that's predominantly owned by the town um it has been that way since i couldn't even tell you how far back uh but it is all Most of that land is flood zone. The parcels are non-conforming in more than one way. They're essentially undevelopable by means of a couple records. I'm pulling from not making that determination myself. And that's pretty much it. My thought on this was just the impact to the surrounding area is... fairly minimal. It is another tennis court being attached to a facility with quite a few tennis courts where they used to have a gravel parking area with essentially no neighbors off of that that rear face um but just because i wasn't able to mail it out to those who like a paper copy this was always available digitally this is the survey of what was there um at least at the time this was the existing structure but they had gotten a variance to be 19 feet away from the property boundary um for this building uh in the 80s i believe And this is another essentially 20 feet further away from the property line than that structure used to be. And that's pretty much it. The details of which are in my staff report.

Any other members have any questions?

No.

No? Is there anything else you want to add, Mr. Woodward?

No, I'm all set.

Thank you. And Alex, you're all set?

Yeah, unless anyone has any further questions.

Do I have a motion to close public hearing?

Motion to close public hearing.

That was from Seth. Thank you, Seth. And do I have a second? And all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any nays or abstentions? Okay. And is there anybody on the board have any discussion or does somebody want to make a motion?

I'll make a motion if you want. that alan go with that second reason okay i make a motion to grant the variance as requested for 45 douglas street as as follows a 12-foot variance in the zoning regulations 4.4.b bulk requirements of an i2 restricted industrial uh district rear yard setback for proposed addition according to the plan submitted uh are we going to use these plans for a date sure uh sure april 28th 2026. yeah did you i'm sorry did you give the hardship oh hardship The findings for hardship are that the parcel, the building is not squarely on the site and that it creates a distortion to the rear of the property.

Thank you. Second for that motion. Second. Thank you, Shelby. All in favor? Aye. any nays any any abstentions oh okay all right then passes okay just check with staff there uh mr woodward for what your next steps are all righty thank you very much everyone thank you for your time okay any old business none none I guess the attorneys want to set up some meeting on the Tunxis Avenue stuff with... with i guess their side and and and zoning people you know about that right alex but we haven't yeah nothing's it's it's all scheduling nothing's essentially happened yet no and no it seems like we can't um um trying to schedule either with john coleman or with uh linda and i'm kind of open i was just waiting it doesn't seem like the dates are working so that's the only old business i have anybody have any new business no no do either uh either alan or seth do you know your your alternate because we we've never seen her except for when she got sworn in who is it Vivi, what's her name, Alex Vivian?

Vivian, yeah, I'm going to try and track her down. We do have a new, she always gets the email, you know, everyone gets it. Oh, she does get it. Gets a blind copy, hey, here's the agenda, can you make it, just to get a tally only. But do we know that she gets it, Alex? Yeah, I have followed up. I'm not entirely sure when when attendance you know will occur neither here nor there but I guess more importantly we do have another alternate who will most likely be at future meetings hopefully the next one and uh at that time you know just just keep an eye out in your inboxes for just more training things i'm i'm leaning more towards sending you guys links to basically the the materials from former from former uh trainings i think that's that's a good place to get started while uh We try and sort out a good time to go to a full training. And there's even at the full training, that's not the full hours that need to be completed. So I'll send you guys materials, hopefully this week, just to review if you haven't done the required training. um in four years essentially just you know just let me know when you've reviewed the materials that i send everybody again just blind copy just for the sake of making it easy on everyone and did everybody go to the the one that we did i've had no one reach out to me about it that training the one that was on the that was um we couldn't it was yeah it was full

was wine was full it was full before we even we didn't get on that training it was full yeah that's my understanding as well so all right you guys before you send out the thing let's see oh yeah before we even get it so let's go like the email

that's right that's right i was thinking about other thing that they did but that from the town clerk but no no there's there's materials i mean that's the best we're going to be able to do for right now um and those count for a certain amount of hours um but yeah they're they are required so they fill up immediately and they they also don't have they have a limited number of spots for online which i don't i don't love uh considering that they're also required so you know it we'll we'll just keep plugging away at it the that was the best one um but if everyone can get the online materials i get sent to you reviewed and send me an email back uh that's a great start and then we'll all be able to go to hopefully one that's that's as good as that one um in the near future okay so you're going to send out the information this week to us yeah and it'll be materials you can just read okay no problem yeah that's the best that is available alex how often is that that particular other particular meeting offered well so the trick is they usually time it around elections um which would require a lot of a lot of coordination that at least i can only speak to this particular case wasn't wasn't necessarily in place um to get people there immediately. But yeah, it's really the best one is only annually or maybe biannually, I'd have to check. It did just happen fairly recently, but the materials from it are available. So you can go through the PowerPoint. I need to see if the video from that is also available and you can just email me when you've reviewed all the materials that I've sent. That's a great start. Um, and it doesn't require them to have slots, but it's just tough because, you know, every municipality has quite a few commissions, especially related to land use, et cetera. Um, so we're just going to make use of, you know, everyone who needs to catch up. Can do so with written materials and then just. We'll attend the 1st, 1 that we can in the event that in the past 4 years, you don't have the 4 hours. So. We'll just keep following up. But to start, I'm just going to send the whole commission the online home materials.

Okay.

Okay, thanks.

Anything else? Do I have a motion to adjourn?

So moved.

Seconded. Seconded.

Okay.

Actually, Okay.

What were you going to say, Jackie?

I was going to say that Stephanie wasn't sitting. She couldn't second it. I thought about that after.